Bill Gates
_5.jpg) Gates at the European Commission, June 2025. Photo: Bogdan Hoyaux / European Union, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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| Net worth | $108 billion Forbes 2026 list, March 24, 2026[1] |
|---|---|
| World rank | 19th (Forbes 2026)[1] |
| Source of wealth | Microsoft |
| Companies | Microsoft (co-founder); Cascade Investment; TerraPower; Gates Foundation (chair) |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Born | October 28, 1955, Seattle, Washington, US |
| Education | Harvard University (left in 1975) |
| Known for | Co-founding Microsoft; the Gates Foundation |
| Net worth figures are estimates by the source named and change every day. | |
Bill Gates is an American businessman who co-founded the software company Microsoft in 1975 with his childhood friend Paul Allen, and later turned to giving his fortune away.[2] On the Forbes 2026 billionaires list, a snapshot taken on March 24, 2026, he was 19th in the world with an estimated $108 billion.[1]
Net worth
- 1987: $1.25 billion, on the first Forbes list of the richest Americans, at 31 the youngest self-made billionaire ever at the time.[2]
- March 2026: $108 billion, 19th on the Forbes list.[1]
- July 2026: about $106.5 billion according to Forbes.[2]
He has said he plans to give "virtually all" of his wealth to charity and eventually drop off the list of the world's richest people.[2]
How the fortune was made
Gates grew up in Seattle and met Allen at Lakeside School. He went to Harvard in 1973 but left in 1975 to start Microsoft.[2] Sales of its MS-DOS operating system made Microsoft a major player, and the first Windows went on sale on November 20, 1985.[2] Microsoft went public in 1986.[2] Gates moved out of day-to-day work at Microsoft from 2006 and left its board in 2020.[2] His other investments are held through Cascade Investment, and he co-founded the nuclear power company TerraPower.[2]
Giving
He and Melinda French Gates co-chaired the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world's largest private charity, from 2000 to 2024; it is now the Gates Foundation, with him as sole chair.[2] In 2010 he and Warren Buffett started the Giving Pledge.[2]
Photos
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Paul Allen (left) and Bill Gates at Lakeside School in Seattle, 1970. Photo: Bruce Burgess, Public domain -
Gates with an early version of Windows, 1984. Photo: Tandy Corporation, Public domain -
The Altair 8800, the computer Microsoft's first product was written for. Photo: Swtpc6800 en:User:Swtpc6800 Michael Holley, Public domain
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All photos are from Wikimedia Commons; click a photo for its full credit and license.
Sources
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Forbes, "Bill Gates", 2026 World's Billionaires list (snapshot of March 24, 2026), read November 3, 2026. Net worth is a Forbes estimate.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 Wikipedia, "Bill Gates", read November 3, 2026. Billionaire Wiki's text is written in its own words; facts are checked against this article and its sources.